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Scores of activists have protested and scorned the Affordable Care Act. Many have waged lawsuits against the federal government to challenge the constitutionality of “Obamacare.” Despite the overwhelmingly critical and hostile reaction, this reform to our healthcare system is not poised to wreak the havoc on American small businesses that the opposition is charging.

Here are some facts about the Affordable Care Act that may actually paint a brighter picture for the future of American small businesses and startups -- and the life they are able to provide to the employees who play a role in their success.

The Mandate to Provide Coverage

Perhaps the most contested stipulation of the Affordable Care Act is the requirement for certain businesses to provide healthcare coverage to their full-time employees. Rest assured, small businesses in the U.S.: this provision will not break your bank.

Businesses With Fewer Than 50 Employees

The Affordable Care Act does not require businesses with fewer than 50 full-time employees to provide their employees with healthcare coverage. To put this into perspective, 96 percent of the businesses in the U.S. have fewer than 50 employees, which illustrates the improbability of the detrimental effects that some claim the Act will have on business. (And if you have fewer than 25 employees and choose to provide insurance anyway, the Act provides a tax credit to offset the cost.)

Employees of businesses with fewer than 50 employees that do not provide health insurance will be eligible to purchase their own coverage through the health insurance exchanges that will be established under the Affordable Care Act in 2014.

Businesses With More Than 50 Employees

Businesses with more than 50 employees will be required under the Affordable Care Act to provide healthcare coverage to their employees. Let’s put this into perspective. Only 0.2 percent of the businesses in the U.S. with more than 50 employees do not already provide healthcare insurance to full-time employees.

The Affordable Care Act has provisions to make providing health insurance very affordable for many of these businesses. In fact, purchasing insurance through the insurance exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act will be permitted in 2014 for businesses with as many as 100 employees in some states. Additionally, states will be permitted to allow businesses with more than 100 employees to purchase healthcare coverage in the shop exchanges starting in 2017.

The penalty for not providing healthcare coverage can be broken down into two different scenarios: a penalty for not providing healthcare coverage, and a penalty for not providing affordable healthcare coverage.

For businesses with more than 50 full-time employees, the penalty for not providing your employees with any healthcare is $2,000 per year for each full-time employee minus 30. For example, AXZ Corp. has 60 employees and does not provide any health insurance to those employees. Using the formula above, we will take the number of employees at AXZ (60) and subtract 30 from that to arrive at 30. We will then multiply that 30 by $2,000, which equals $60,000. AXZ Corp. will pay a penalty of $60,000 per year for not providing its 60 employees with basic healthcare coverage. Furthermore, this penalty will increase each year according to the growth in insurance premiums.

Now, let’s look at the penalties imposed on companies who provide employees who don’t qualify as providing affordable healthcare coverage. When determining whether the coverage offered by a company is affordable, the Act first looks at whether the employer pays a significant portion of their employees’ coverage. Under this stipulation, if any employee has to pay more than 9.5 percent of their income for their employer’s coverage, it is not affordable coverage. This company would be required to pay a penalty for not providing affordable coverage to its employees.

Let’s look at another scenario that falls under providing affordable coverage. If an employer’s healthcare coverage does not pay for at least 60 percent of covered healthcare expenses, this is not affordable coverage. This stipulation applies even if the employee is not paying more than 9.5 percent of income for the coverage; if the coverage does not pay for at least 60 percent of expenses, it is not affordable coverage and the company will be penalized

Finally, let’s not forget to examine the benefit to the owners of these businesses as well. The ugly truth is that one in four small business owners in the U.S. are uninsured. The number one benefit of the Affordable Care Act for entrepreneurs and business owners is that they can now afford their own health insurance. In fact, the Affordable Care Act will allow 83 percent of currently uninsured small business owners become eligible for healthcare coverage. Additionally, many small business owners who currently buy their own individual healthcare coverage in the private market may be eligible to take advantage of new cost savings as well.

All things considered, I think the Affordable Care Act is actually a major step towards creating a more prosperous America -- because as entrepreneurs and business owners, it enables us to provide a better life for those who help make our success possible everyday.

Courtesy of YEC

Richard Lorenzen is the CEO of Fifth Avenue Brands, a public relations firm in New York. He speaks on business, philanthropy and politics, and he has been seen in Forbes, Business, Inc. Magazine, News and more. www.FifthAvenueBrands.com.

Courtesy of YEC

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.